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This week will close the book on Ruben Mize, one of Santa Barbara’s most notorious gangsters at the young age of 19. He was sentenced Monday to 60 years to life in prison for his involvement in several serious attacks, including the 2007 murder of 16-year-old Lorenzo Carachure.

Though three others still must be sentenced for Carachure’s murder, Mize refused to waive any more time Monday for his sentencing, which came during a hearing at which he also pleaded no contest for an assault on an opposing gang member which took place in Juvenile Hall in February 2009, and also to a January 2008 gang jumping-in. Gang charges were tacked onto both of those incidents as well, and Mize potentially faces several more years in prison for the two violent incidents when he is sentenced Friday.

Tyler Hayden

Ruben Mize is sentenced to 60 years to life in prison for his role in the 2007 murder of Lorenzo Carachure (May 9, 2011)

Mize was captured on an audio recording by a police informant — his cousin — talking about stabbing Carachure, and also admitting to his involvement in a separate attack just months later and blocks from the site of the murder. A Santa Barbara jury found Mize guilty for both attacks in March, during his second trial.

Mize had already pleaded and been sentenced to 19 years in prison for an attempted murder charge related to a 2007 attack on the Westside where he and three others left the victim with more than 30 stab wounds.

Add it all up, and Mize will likely spend the rest of life in state prison. “You’re going to have a lot of time to think about whether you want to change the infliction of a great deal of misery on people similar to yourself solely because you live on the other side of the street,” Judge Clifford Anderson told Mize Monday. “It makes no sense to this court…I hope you take the time allotted to you to see if it’s not worth changing your perspective.”

Prosecutor Hans Almgren said the sentencing was appropriate, and commended the Santa Barbara Police Department for a “fantastic job” in a difficult case.

Mize will be back in court Friday for sentencing on his two outstanding convictions. Meanwhile Bryan Medinilla — convicted of first degree murder — and Ricardo Nava and Raul Diaz — both convicted of second degree murder — will be back in court May 26. Prior to trial, all three attempted to sever their cases from Mize, as he was far and away the most culpable in the attack on Carachure.

Comments

Raised by the gang culture--all those lives destroyed. Young children everyday introduced into that life, kids as young as 10 with the thousand-yard-stare.

Meanwhile, the people who run our society argue about whether we should build more prisons to house the ever-increasing numbers of these processed thugs or if we should have more after-school programs for our "at-risk" kids while ignoring the underlying causes.

I went to elementary school with this kid. We never really talked or anything, but I do remember how he was. I'd never thought that someone from my class or generation would do something like this. His mom always came by to give him, from what I remember, pink medicine. He was in a lot of my classes, from kindergarten to fourth grade. It's saddening, but at the same time, people change and they choose different life styles.

I think Bill the goal is to intercept early, if only to save a life. We could definitely make more room in prisons by releasing people incarcerated on bs drug offenses. In fact legalization would put these thugs outta business.

Bingo! Take the street value out of drugs and the push factor is removed. Sadly, right-wing moralists (many of whom chug their wine and get buzzed on a regular basis) think that legalizing even something as minor as marijuana will send us all to hell in a handbasket while "progressive" politicians seduce the Democratic Party with their pro gay pride/save the environment/pro-abortion talk all the while making sure that the jails are kept full of nonviolent drug "offenders".

if Mize was a white kid in Santa Barbara trial as an adult and sentence to sixty years to life prison for a murder, then the whole white community will be outraged. But he is not... Latino gangs are the visible in Santa Barbara indeed.. But there are white gangs too but there are not label as gangs, they are label as crew, group, or posse. Santa Barbara is the hometown of the KKK, Hell Angels, Warlocks, White Power Gang and other white gangs. Of course they are invisible. But they do export a lot drugs and weapons. But lets ignore that because they are white. Santa Barbara is most racist place, i have ever lived...If mexicans were not in this country, i wonder who will be doing the jobs that most americans dont want to do...for example cleaning toilets, picking fruits from the fields, gardening, cleaning houses, and other form of cheap labor.mmmm Dont be surprised when young latinos get organized and rebel against this oppression system... And take what belong to us.. this land is our...remember who crossed the atlantic ocean... my ancestors were from this land..

killuminati - How many "white kid" do you know that have the criminal history this boy has and not received as extensive a sentence. No one should be "outraged" when an idiot, white, black, brown or anyone else you can think of such as Mize is taken off the street for good. Why don't you "out" the gangs in SB you refer to, or are they too "invisible?" If you and the other Mexicans that live in this country are treated so poorly why don't you just carry you ass back to wherever you came from? You're probably here, legally or illegally, because your own country does not offer the opportunities provided in the USA. How many people you refer to (do not) receive some type of subsidy from the US government? Enough of your poor me BS. Either educate yourself, find a decent job or get the hell out!

I once worked an Ag job here in SB in my late teens and early 20's. I was like the White Shadow, the only non-Latino out in the field and warehouse. About 20 workers in all and for the most part great guys. Some hardly spoke English but they treated me well. Treating each other with respect however was a HUGE problem. These guys were the most racist I've ever been around. Total hierarchy based on skin color and from what area in Mexico or Central America they came from. The lighter the skin, the better they thought they were. The "Indios" with brown skin were given a very bad time, teased, mocked, put in their place. Kind of like how these Latino gangsters, with more in common than we could ever imagine, end up stabbing each other because of where they happen to live in relation to State Street. Mind boggling. Also mind boggling that folks like Killumati thinks Mize is somehow rebelling against an oppressive system. Total BS. The guy chose his own failed path in life. Do the crime, do the time, no matter what color you are. Don't cry racism when you end up in the pen.

@ Scooter, Totally agree with you. I dated a Filipino girl in College who was always told by her fair-skined kin, that she was less of a person than they were and teased her about it often. She was born from the same parents as her brothers and sisters but she inherited darker skin pigment and for that she was put down over it.I am told by my black co-workers that "Red-Boned" blacks (mix-raced) are mutts and are looked down on (Actual wording much worse).Not all Latino's are Racists or Nationalists, (they look at their Central American brothers or via-versa as sub-human or sub-standard) and thus the Gang-Mentailty look at all of us as potential cattle to be saughtered for our property and their Gang Prestige.Mize, "Did the crime and now he do the Time"......Beretta!

Yes, second post to the guy that is counting. Common, there are only Hispanic gangs in Santa Barbara. If there were Asian gangs, White supremicist gangs, ect, you really don't think the police would do the same, go after those that kill others? This is not a race thing. Some come from bad homes and don't decide to kill. Others, believe that the only way to get "respect" is to take away something from someone else, the most severe consequence of course is one's life. I guess the DA is trying to let Cory Lyons go to, after all, he's white, albeit not in a gang. Again, grow up. Own your own school, aka: be a participant in your own future and not a victim!

People wanting to look white is poison...White Jesus is poison!Schools where I learned they should be burned, it is poisonPhysicians prescripting us medicine which is poisonDoctors injecting our infants with the poisonReligion misoverstood is poison

Never to worry, all the wrong doers got it coming back to emA thousand times overEvery dog has its day and everything flips aroundEven the most greatest nation in the world has it coming back to emEveryone reaps what they sew that's how it goesInnocent lives will be taken, it may get worse but we'll get through itbe strong

I have seen Mr. Mize rapping on a youtube video, he has some talent, albeit, ganster music, but still a talented kid for what its worth. if Santa Barbara is so concerned about the "gang problem" why not invest more on programs? such as assigning individual Case Managers to some of the most "at risk" youth and help them turn their life around before committing un-justifiable crimes? Had Mr. Mize had an intervention Case Manager assigned to him during the first signs of trouble, could he be a famous rapper by now? or simply a productive member of society contributing by paying taxes instead of draining taxes by getting locked up for life? I noticed many of these postings are so racist, it is so damn stupid to be racist, it proves nothing, and it solves nothing. One kid is dead, and Four kids are going to prison for a long, long time and families are hurting, lets focus on the human element of this case. Mr. Gus Frias, (new gang czar) i really do hope you bring change to this mess. And, I will commit to volunteer to help bring change. What are the rest of you gonna do? keep typing? or take action?

What really needs to be done is for the powers-that-be to re-classify street gangs as terrorist organizations, not just "criminals": after all, they fit the FBI's definition of terrorism to the proverbial tee.. no matter what race: latino, black, asian, or white. To promote violent and often arbitrary attacks against innocents (as well as rival thugs) with the aim of furthering their organization is pure terrorism. Al Qaeda? Crips? 18th Street? Provisional IRA? ETA, Bloods?Jundullah? It's all the same BS.

While everyone's getting brainwashed and hyper-paranoid about a few radical Muslims 10,000 miles away who are way more concerned with their own *local issues* than on "hitting America"... tis notion fits our preconditioning and comfort zones very neatly... we have a really, really bad problem which is not being addressed.... not just here in quaint, upscale SB, but in EVERY US town and city.

Street gangs in LA county alone between 1991 and 2006 killed more than 12,000 people.. thats four times the 9/11 death toll. Extrapolating that horrifying statistic nationwide and the figures become mindboggling.

Its time to kill off this cancer that raises the fear threshold in every city, and trashes our way of life and liberties; something is very wrong in society when members of the public cannot even walk across the street without fear of some shaven-headed tattooed moron pulling a gun on them, or getting car-jacked, or robbed, stabbed or mugged. They have created no go areas everywhere in US cities, where even the police barely dare to tread. People get killed caught in the cross fire daily.

At this point in history no one should be surprised, shocked or offended when someone states that being white is an advantage in our society. Duh. I'm not suggesting that white people are better, but BEING white is CLEARLY better ("Chewed Up" by Louis CK, 2008).

Since there's no indication that the advantages of being white are going to change any time in the near future, what purpose does bringing up race have in this discussion? Obvious statements don't tend to add anything to a conversation.

hey look this kid is very talented before he wanted to hang out with his older brothers.....being away from his brothers all the time when he was younger made him feel that he should hangout with them more moften when he got older..Which seperated him from all the things he did before he got into the gang life he ended up going through. From sports, music, and family. This is my cousin and i know his lifestyle the way it should have been.....he did want all of it......like most people....they are in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I remember going to Santa Barbra and hearing all the stories about there wasn't any gangs or territories of eastside or westside gang stuff....It all just started from one person being murdered by someone that know one knowing who it really is.....so thats how everything all ways starts from blaming it on someone because it just has be that person since it he has the most involvement around it.